8 Treasures Tea

I received another surprise at my recent Birthday from my sister and brother-in-law, he had brought this special tea from China, called Babaocha, or, literally, 8 Treasure Tea, so called because it has eight ingredients, one of them being tea (Jasmine is usually the favourite, but any kind of green tea can be used). There is usually also rock sugar as one of the ingredients. The remaining six ingredients vary, these could be sesame, wolfberry/goji, ginseng root, raisin, walnut, dried longan, dates, haw, red jujube, dried tangerine peel, dried lemon peel or various dried flowers or herbs. Because of the ingredients, this tea has health properties, it is said, variously, depending on which of the above ingredients are used, to promote energy, improve circulation, to replenish 'chi', to reduce cholesterol, aid blood circulation, strengthen the body's immune system, cool the body's system, tonify the liver, and/or generate blood. It's hard to tell, but this one contains dried longan, raisin, dates, wolfberry, chrysanthemum and apricot, along with the rock sugar and green tea. To drink, just steep, using not quite boiling water (80 to 90C).

Radish Cake

Having enjoyed the Fried Carrot Cake at Lion City, my beautiful Thai Bride and I thought, well, I enjoyed it more than she did, to tell the truth, to make it ourselves. I found this dim sum style recipe somewhere on the 'Net (don't ask me, because I couldn't find it again, when I had recent computer problems), and it looked to be the correct ingredients. It is quite simple to make actually, just make sure to use the regular rice flour, not the glutinous kind. We also used the fake soy-based ham instead of the Lup Cheong, it tasted just as good. White pepper is normally used in Chinese dishes, instead of black pepper.

Radish Cake
2-3 Tbsp small dried shrimp (optional)
2-1/2 - 3 cups (lightly packed) coarsely shredded daikon radish
1 Lup Cheong (Chinese sausage) finely diced
2 green onions (include white parts) finely sliced
1-2 Tbsp cilantro - finely chopped
2 cups rice flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp oil (for frying)

Place shredded radish in a small pot or saucepan with water, just to cover. Bring mixture to a boil, than reduce the heat to a low and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Remove radish from liquid (do not discard the cooking liquid) and place in measuring cup. Add in cooking liquid to bring the amount to approximately 3 cups. Let the mixture cool to a lukewarm temperature.

Soak dried shrimp in hot water for 20-30 minutes, then drain.

Also, while radish is cooking, heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a skillet or wok. When oil starts to smoke add the Lup Cheong, green onions and dried shrimp. Stir fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Remove the mixture from heat and stir in cilantro.

In a bowl mix the rice flour, salt, sugar, and white pepper. Add the radish and cooking water, and stir to a batter-like consistency. Add the Lup Cheong mixture to the batter and mix. Pour mixture into a 8 inch round cake pan.

Place cake pan into steamer, and steam at a medium-high boil for 40-45 minutes.

Remove the turnip cake from the steamer and let cool.

Here we enjoyed it stir-fried with a little Sambal paste, two eggs and Chinese chives. Delicious!

Restaurant Review - Lion City Restaurant

My one-time Sri Lankan co-worker and friend told me about this restaurant in Mississauga called Lion City that he went to, he liked and recommended it to me for Asian food, but I had never been to it before now, not really liking to go to restaurants by myself, so I decided to bring my beautiful Thai Bride to check it out. Too, this Malaysian coworker, when I mentioned the restaurant, told me he knew of it, and thought that it was second only to his favourite, Restoran Malaysia. The cuisine offered at Lion City is a mixture of Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian. We met the charming chef and owner, Lilian Ow, on our second visit, on a Sunday. She is from Singapore, and her cooking expertise reflects this. She was interested that my Bride came from Thailand, and pointed out the many Thai dishes. She also brought out a sample of the Sambal paste to try.

We perused the many interesting selections in the menu on our first visit, we really did not know which of the many interesting dishes to choose from. This too happened the second and third of our visits, we ended up picking from every page, except for the Exotic Thailand page (though the Thai Grilled Chicken looked appetizing, and I will likely try it the next time we go there). There was Char Kway Teow, rice noodles fried with shrimps, Chinese sausage, egg, fish cake, beansprouts and chives; Mee Goreng, yellow noodle with chicken, egg, tofu, beansprouts, peas, potatoes, cabbage, onions and tomato; Nasi Goreng, Indonesian style fried rice with shrimps, chicken and egg; Fried Carrot Cake, a radish and rice cake, we had twice!; Popiah, thin crepes with vegetables and Chinese sausage; Laksa Lemak, rice vermicelli in spicy coconut gravy with chicken, shrimps, fish cake and beansprouts; Sambal Assam Fish, fish in hot tamarind gravy; Sayur Lodeh, spicy coconut gravy with cabbage, carrots, beanthread and tofu; and Durian milkshakes, quite tasty. There were chicken samosas and multi-coloured desserts for sale too, that we tried.

This is an interesting restaurant, that one can go to again and again, and always find something new.

President's Choice Pomegranate and Blueberry Juice

I have been drinking this juice from President's Choice since it came out several years ago, I find it quite tasty, much better really than the So Nice version, though it has less of the pomegranate and blueberry juice percentage-wise, and more of apple, pear and elderberry juice, though I can taste both the pomegranate and blueberry, as the predominant flavours.

Cadbury Caramilk Deluxe

I must say I was more intrigued by the 'extra' bit in this Caramilk chocolate bar, I'm not really a fan of this caramel and milk chocolate bar, nor do I think it's a great secret how they get the caramel in the chocolate bar. The rather long ingredient listing, which I won't duplicate, nor comment upon, is mostly sugar (okay, one comment). It was what they describe as 'dark creamy chocolatey filling' in the commercials and on the 'Net that intrigued me enough to try it once.

And, I would say, it tastes better than a regular Caramilk, the chewy dark chocolate in the centre is interesting. Not enough to buy another one, nor enough to ask Cadbury to make a bar without the signature caramel.

Korean Lemon Vitamin C

I bought this Vitamin C candy in a Korean supermarket, I can't even read the packaging, other than to determine that it is Vitamin C, that the package contains 840 mg of the vitamin, and that they are lemon flavoured. I liked the now discontinued Lemon Vitamin C tablets from Swiss Vitamins, they were great!, but perhaps I was the only one who thought so (I still hope they bring them back). These do taste like lemon, though I believe that they use citric acid and lemon flavour to achieve the taste. I like the little leaf trap door, push it aside to reveal a hole with which you can take out some of the tiny lemon tablets.

Valor Forest Fruits

The second of the several different bars I got from the Spanish company Chocolates Valor, S.A., this one features a cacao content of 70% and the inclusion of dried forest fruits, namely raspberries and blackberries. The fruit, dried as it was, was fairly disconcerting, crunchy like nuts, but of a different consistency, I don't know that I liked it. Nor did it really taste much like raspberries or blackberries, I suppose there was an underlying fruit flavour behind the dark chocolate, but I've tasted chocolate with fruits that have been way better. The ingredient listing is fairly good, chocolate processed with alkali, sugar, cocoa, cocoa butter, glucose syrup, dried raspberries, fructose, dried blackberries, soy lecithin (as an emulsifier), citric acid (as an acidulant - to make it tart), sodium alginate (as a thickening agent) and natural flavours (likely vanilla, but perhaps raspberry and/or blackberry flavours). I don't think that I would choose this bar again, among the range of chocolate offerings that Valor has.

Sweet Red Bean Soup

When we came across this recipe on the 'Net, my beautiful Thai Bride knew she had to make it. It is quite easy to make, and tastes very good, the red beans sweetened with the contrast of the tangerine and dried lily bulbs, is very interesting. We used light muscovado sugar and azuki beans. Dried tangerine peel and dried lily bulbs can be found in any good Chinese supermarket. This is the fast method, using a pressure cooker (I christened my pressure cooker with this dish, my first succesful meal made by myself, though my brother-in-law used it several times succesfully), if you don't have a pressure cooker, just simmer on the stove for 2-3 hours, making sure that there is enough water to cover the beans at all times, and stir occasionally to prevent the beans from burning. We found that the beans absorbed the water in the pressure cooker, so add some more at the last cooking stage. This ended up being very thick, so add some more water till you get the right consistency.

Sweet Red Bean Soup
225 g red beans (azuki or other small red beans)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
small handful dried tangerine peel
1/2 cup light brown sugar (according to taste)
a handful of dried lily bulbs

Soak the tangerine peel and the lily bulbs; when soft, remove the pith from the tangerine peel.

Wash and soak red beans in cold water with the bicarbonate of soda for 2 hours. Drain.

Boil the red beans in enough water to cover. Drain.

In the pressure cooker, put the red beans, water and tangerine peel; cook for 30 minutes on high pressure. When pressure is released, remove lid, add the soaked lily bulbs and enough water to cover and bring back to the boil. Cook until the lily bulbs are soft.

Take off heat, add sugar and stir in until dissolved. Add more water to bring to desired consistency, if necessary.

Nestle Savoy Fruit and Nuts

Occasionally, I get to sample some Venezuelan made chocolate bars, mostly when the company I work for receives a visit from a worker from our Venezuelan plant. The big maker of chocolate in Venezuela is Nestlé Savoy, a subsidiary of Nestle. They make chocolate bars that are geared to the South American market, some similar to those found in North America, some not. The ingredient listing of this Special Edition chocolate bar is unusual, for its fruits portion, it is sugar, milk solids, cocoa butter, toasted almonds, raisins, candied (or sugared) orange pieces (the unusual ingredient, one, that it is in the bar, and two, that it is the fruit rather than the peel, at least for North Americans), cocoa liquor, lecithin and vanillin.

I would say that, I don't like, and have never liked, candied fruit, save for ginger, so I did not enjoy this bar (and it even made me a little queasy), but my beautiful Thai Bride enjoyed it.

My friend devoured this bar very quickly, I managed to save only this part of the wrapper. This Special Edition chocolate bar contains almonds.

Lindt Milk Chocolate with Whole Hazelnuts

The golden wrapper beckoned me in the Lindt outlet store, that it wrapped around a large bar filled with whole hazelnuts certainly made my eyes larger, and that it was on sale clinched the deal. Lindt is known for its smooth chocolate, its conching method makes its chocolates quite smooth, from the milk chocolate to the dark versions. This one is no exception, and the whole hazelnuts pair well with the milk chocolate. The ingredient listing is quite long for a Lindt bar, sugar, cocoa butter, milk ingredients, hazelnuts, cocoa mass, lactose, soya lecithin, barley malt extract and artificial flavor (likely vanillin). That this bar is big is good, though I would not say that it is the best whole hazelnut milk chocolate bar that I have tasted. I will, and have, buy this bar again.